District Judge William J. Nealon of the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued two recent decisions holding that both a Quick Response (“QR”) code and a bar code appearing through the glassine window of an envelope containing a collection letter violate section 1692f(8) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which prohibits “using any language or
Congress Trying Again To Reform or Eliminate the CFPB
On July 22, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government approved a spending bill for the 2016 fiscal year that would change the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) leadership structure by replacing the CFPB director with a five-member commission.
The bill also would bring funding for the CFPB’s budget under the annual
Seventh Circuit Finds Plaintiffs Have Standing in Neiman Marcus Data Breach Suit
On July 20, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a group of plaintiffs who sued Neiman Marcus over the theft of their credit card information in a data security breach had standing to sue for fraudulent charges, as well as fraud-prevention expenses and credit monitoring. The appellate court reversed a prior decision from
Judge Denies Law Firm’s Motion to Dismiss Debt Collection Lawsuit Filed by CFPB
On July 14, 2015, a federal judge in Atlanta denied a law firm’s Motion to Dismiss a claim against it filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act or the Dodd-Frank Act (“Dodd-Frank”).
The CFPB filed suit against a
Director Cordray Comments on Ability-to-Repay, TRID, and Credit Cards
On July 15, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) Director Richard Cordray provided insightful testimony on a number of subjects in an appearance before the Senate Banking Committee. During the question-and-answer session, Cordray indicated that the CFPB will be revisiting the income-verification standards of the Ability-to-Repay Rule at some point in the near term. He commented
Trade Groups Submit Comment Letter to CFPB Regarding Its Study on Consumer Arbitration
On July 13, the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, and The Financial Services Roundtable submitted a comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in response to the CFPB’s March 10, 2015 Consumer Arbitration Study.
This Arbitration Study has been widely viewed as potentially laying the groundwork for the abolition of mandatory
CFPB Issues “Guiding Principles” for Financial Technology Payment Systems to Ensure Consumer Protections
On July 9, just weeks after initiating its first enforcement actions against payment processors, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an outline of nine “guiding principles” for faster payment networks which will provide greater consumer protections. The CFPB indicated that new technology supporting payment systems must be secure, transparent, accessible, affordable to consumers, and have
CFPB Settles Credit Card Add-On Lawsuits for Combined $10 million
On July 1, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it had agreed to consent orders in pending lawsuits against two sets of defendants – Affinion Group Holdings Inc. and its subsidiaries (“Affinion”), as well as Intersections, Inc. (“Intersections”) – over allegations that the vendors had unfairly charged consumers for credit card add-on benefits that
FTC and Florida AG File Suit to Halt Robocalls from “Card Member Services”
The FTC and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi obtained an ex parte temporary restraining order from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida on June 22, temporarily halting several Orlando-based companies from allegedly making illegal robocalls designed to trick consumers nationwide into paying for “worthless credit card interest rate reduction programs.”
FTC Sending Nearly $4 Million to Consumers Extorted in Credit Card Debt Collection Scam
As we discussed last year, the Federal Trade Commission announced in May 2014 that it settled charges against Asset Capital and Management Group for illegally extracting payments from consumers for credit card debt that it had purchased from creditors.
In addition to banning the defendants – which includes individuals behind the scheme, a network